Pete Rock on Current State of Hip-Hop: "These Kids Don't Give a Fuck About The Culture"

At least a few times every year, there’s an interview with one of hip-hop’s pioneers in which they openly and unabashedly criticize the current state of hip-hop, and we’re left to address both the accuracy and value of their statements, knowing full well that hip-hop is alive and well.

In a new in-depth exploration of New York hip-hop from Pigeons & Planes, Pete Rock went on the offensive against a generation of artists that he feels have no respect for the history and culture of the genre.

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Pete Rock pulls no punches about the state of current hip-hop. “A lot of these kids, they don’t give a fuck about the culture,” he says. “You know what they care about? Money.” Auto-Tune, poor lyrics, mumbled flow, a celebration of drugs and strip club culture—they’re all on Rock’s list of grievances. But topping it all is what he sees as a lack of respect for what came before. “Back in the ‘90s the truth was real,” he asserts. “We had dignity, pride, all of that. Today? That’s totally out the window. I mean, it’s fucked up that this is the way we gotta go out, that we gotta go to our graves with this type of music on the radio.”

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Here’s the deal. Pete Rock, just like the countless artists that have conveyed this opinion before, is both right and wrong. As a legend within the culture, there are few with the authority Pete has to speak on what’s happening with hip-hop. His opinions should always be respected and understood, but that doesn’t mean they’re always right.

As much as hip-hop is an important culture and movement, it’s also an art form, and you can never tell someone what their art should be. Hip-hop is a vast and varied musical landscape, and the different expressions of that are part of what make it such an exciting and vital art form.

Pete's argument hinges on a few components: A perceived decline in the representation of positive, “conscious” hip-hop on a mainstream level, a slight romanticizing of hip-hop’s past, and a lack of recognition for those newer artists that respect the culture and are in fact pushing it forward.

As far as comparing the representation of quality hip-hop from then and now, I'm tired of hearing that argument. There was garbage hip-hop being played on the radio in the '90s, and there is garbage hip-hop on the radio now. There is also excellent hip-hop surfacing to the mainstream today, similar to two decades ago, and new artists who are concerned with pushing the artform forward in a positive way.

When it comes to romanticizing the past, of course, Pete is going to have preferential memories of his peak during hip-hop’s “golden era,” but I have to give Rock credit for not having the “outside looking in” mentality.

Not only is Pete Rock a legend, but he’s still actively participating in hip-hop both musically and culturally, collaborating with contemporaries like Smoke DZA to make sure his brand of hip-hop is still heard by a new generation.

Opinions like Pete’s are still absolutely necessary, albeit a bit tiresome. Hip-hop is going to be just fine. There is no rulebook for how the genre should sound, there is no council that decides what is and isn’t hip-hop, it’s art.

At the same time, it’s important to have the voices of hip-hop’s founding fathers present in our conscience when creating that art because there absolutely is a respect due to the past and a responsibility to uphold hip-hop’s core values.